Oklahoma tornado

Severe storm system floods Oklahoma City

(Newser) -
In what forecasters warn could be just the first day of several days of severe weather, storms lashed parts of the Great Plains region yesterday, bringing tornadoes and flooding. "This is a particularly dangerous situation," according to the National Weather Service, which says tornadoes have been spotted in...
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Deadly storm hit Tulsa-area trailer park

(Newser) -
The first batch of severe weather in this year's tornado season has devastated an Oklahoma mobile home park, and storms across the area damaged buildings, tore off roofs, and left debris strewn across roads. One person was killed and several were injured. Tens of thousands of Oklahoma residents are...
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Jennifer Doan Rogers had her hand on Nicolas McCabe as wall collapsed

(Newser) -
The school's wall collapsed onto Jennifer Doan Rogers as she desperately tried to protect her third-grade students as a tornado ripped through their Oklahoma City suburb on May 20. The young teacher had laid one of her hands on Nicolas McCabe, a 9-year-old with an infectious grin. But it...
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Friday's was measured at 2.6 miles wide

(Newser) -
Those in its path probably won't be surprised, but the monster tornado that whipped through Oklahoma last week was the widest ever measured by the National Weather Service, reports USA Today . Its span of 2.6 miles edged out a 2004 Nebraska tornado for the record. The tornado's...
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Tim Samaras, son, partner weren't reckless

(Newser) -
The three storm chasers who died Friday in an Oklahoma tornado knew what they were doing, according to family, friends, colleagues, and experts in the field. Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and his partner Carl Young were all known from the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers. One meteorologist explains that...
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Weather Channel crew is shaken up, but fine

(Newser) -
One of the hazards of driving a "tornado hunt" car is that sometimes the tornado finds you first. A crew from the Weather Channel learned that yesterday when their vehicle got thrown about 200 yards by a tornado outside Oklahoma City. "It was like we were floating,"...
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Storms slam Oklahoma City, suburbs

(Newser) -
Nine people are dead and dozens injured after a new round of tornadoes slammed Oklahoma last night, reports AP and CNN . Among the fatalities were a mother and infant, whose bodies were found near their car on I-40, a major state artery. Oklahoma City and its suburbs took the brunt...
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$110M remains unspent

(Newser) -
The Red Cross was the top recipient of donations after Superstorm Sandy, bringing in $303 million to help victims. But as of mid-April, $110 million of that remained unused, the organization says. Though the Red Cross—and some disaster relief experts—says that's a good move, allowing it to...
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Plus, GOP did not like Obama's counterterror speech

(Newser) -
With President Obama headed for her tornado-ravaged state, Okla. Gov. Mary Fallin told CNN's State of the Union today that while, "so far, we have had a great response" from the feds, she's also worried about the grinding wheels of bureaucracy in the days ahead. "What...
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Oklahoma tornadoes just the latest billion-dollar disaster

(Newser) -
The bill from the Oklahoma tornado is now expected to top $2 billion in damages, making it the latest member of the rapidly growing billion-dollar weather-disaster club, the New Yorker observes. In a recent study, climate scientists found that billion-dollar-plus disasters (among them Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, and the 2011...
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First Plaza Towers funeral held for girl, 9

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The cleanup is under way in Oklahoma, and locals are tackling the bleak task of restoring a cemetery. "We know there are going to have to be some funerals here in the next few days," says a volunteer in Moore. "We don’t want them to come...
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Medical examiner identifies 23 of the 24 victims

(Newser) -
Two infants were among the 24 people killed by the tornado that ripped across the Oklahoma City area this week, the Oklahoma medical examiner's office said today. The office said it has identified 23 of the 24 victims and that 10 of them were children, including seven who were...
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Inhofe opposed Sandy aid but wants tornado aid

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You knew this was coming: Peter King, who fought hard for Superstorm Sandy aid for his home state of New York, thinks there's "a lot of hypocrisy" when it comes to lawmakers who opposed Sandy aid but are in favor of tornado aid. The subject of his attention...
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Says Moore will push for new law ASAP

(Newser) -
The mayor of the Oklahoma city devastated by a tornado this week says he'll push for a new law requiring all new homes to be built with storm shelters or safe rooms. "We'll try to get it passed as soon as I can," the Moore mayor...
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Survivors recount terrifying minutes as twister hit

(Newser) -
As the massive tornado hit the Plaza Towers Elementary School, "it sounded like rivets being pulled out by a monster," a teacher's assistant tells the Wall Street Journal , recounting how she and some 10 other adults huddled and tried to protect as many children as they could...
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200mph winds earn it top EF-5 status

(Newser) -
The National Weather Service says the tornado that hit Oklahoma yesterday was a top-of-the-scale EF-5 twister with winds between 200 and 210mph. The agency upgraded the tornado from an EF-4 based on what a damage-assessment team saw on the ground. Less than 1% of US tornadoes are this violent. Yesterday'...
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Oklahoma tornado should be a warning: David Sirota

(Newser) -
The National Weather Service had a warning in effect 16 minutes before yesterday's tragic Oklahoma tornado —but we may not be as prepared next time around, thanks to the sequester's 8.2% cut to the Weather Service, David Sirota writes on Salon . The organization representing weather service...
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But Obama promises resources for disaster

(Newser) -
Tom Coburn represents Oklahoma, so you might expect him to call for tornado relief to flow to his state no matter the cost—but you'd be wrong. Instead, the Republican senator is demanding that all aid to his state be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget, a spokesman...
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Including 7 kids, but fatalities still expected to rise

(Newser) -
The Oklahoma state medical examiner's office has dramatically dropped the confirmed death toll in yesterday's horrific tornado to 24, reports the AP . A spokeswoman said that some bodies were apparently counted twice in the chaotic aftermath of the storm, and that confusion was exacerbated by knocked-out communication lines....
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CNN reports 53M could see severe weather

(Newser) -
The tornado threat isn't over: "Large and devastating" storms could continue today, forecasters say. "We could have a Round 3," says a CNN meteorologist. "Hopefully, it won't be as bad." But "tornadoes, damaging wind gusts, and large hail" could hit areas east...
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